Jackie Lampugnano askes herself how journalists are using social media. With Matt Lindner she had a conversation on his opinion about this issue. And it is basically so simple. Journalists are looking for story ideas and soacial media are a heartbeat of what is being said around and it is easy to make selection or search. Also they are engaging, being there, and giving an answer to what other people are looking for rather than pushing their own opinions.

Social media also are very good for the research: you already can read yourself into subjects or even ask questions that may rise. Twitter is a good example but the groups of LinkedIn also turn out to be a good source. And there are various more specialised groups around.

In the end, it’s about relationships. These are getting you further ahead in life. This is valuable for journalists, but for all people who want to be involved in social media. The social part of this term seems to bee looked over quite often. And that’s what makes the conversation useful.

Lunch and other irrelevant talk – there are so many people with their preferences that there is enough to share. What is irrelevant for you may be important to know for some-one else. There’s also a ‘mood’ indicator!

Twitter as a business doesn’t make money so isn’t a viable business – there are more businesses that don’t make money and still are significant. The value of Twitter is based on the number of users quite important.

LinkedIn is for business, Facebook for personal contacts. Some-one missed out here on the business cases now made on Facebook. Why do you think businesses are creating Facebook pages? To reach their client base and perhaps even give service or a branding.

Social networks are time consuming – I just twitter wherever I am, whenever I do. Just need an internet connection on the phone. Some people do not understand that even the time that a computer needs to start up, find a servcr or a file, can be used to communicate. So it can make lost time useful.

Sharing is for exhibitionists. Sharing is a gift and can help other people. I like helping other people, don’t you really? And of course, I like to show when I am doing fun things. Not that weird…

140 characters is not enough for meaningful messages. It forces you to trim the message down to the point. This is an important skill.

You can’t make money on Twitter. I know quite some businesses that make a lot of money on Twitter. Twitter helps my business… don’t you think my follower base of more than 2300 does not have potential? Wine merchand @slijterijmeisje makes a significant part of her revenues on Twitter – and if there was nothing to earn here, we would not have that many spam messages either.

It’s easy to take a mickey out of social media. It’s there for stay and as you see here: social media is more or less put on Twitter. You can reach a lot of important people for business through LinkedIn, access information using Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups and Twitter contacts – just mention #twitterhelp if you have a question to answer! If people don’t see the point in social media, it just characterises themselves. Just see and use them as a tool. It will broaden your world and push you forward. Maybe not immediately but you will get there.